Alphabet-frame



UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

E. B. NOURSE, OF EATON, OHIO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,463ydated October 2, 1866.

To all whom t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, E. B. NOURSE, of Eaton, in the county of Preble and State of Ohio, have made a new and useful Improved Alphabet- Frame, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the nature, construction, and operation'ot' the same, sufficient to enable one skilled in the art to which .it appertains to construct and use the same,referen ce being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view of the side presented to the operator. Fig. 2 is a view ot' the reverse or side presented to the spectators. Fig. 3 is a partial sect-ion and partial edge view, the

sectional portion being on the line c 1), Fig. l.l

The instrument consists otl a frame having two faces, one to be presented to the operator and the other to the reader, and having a series of compartments, one a1 pro1')riated to each letter and numeral, say thirty-six in number;

the letter or character in each compartment, on the side presented to the reader, heilig covered with a spring-shutter, which is thrown back by the linger of the operator, who touches the pad on the other side ot' the frame.

This frame is intended to be held in one hand of the operator and manipulated by the other,

In the drawings, A represents the frame, whose front au d rear faces are correspondingly divided into a number of compartments, b b', each compartment on the face side being appropriated to a particular letter which, except as uncovered by the means to be described, is covered by its hinged shutter c.

At the rear side of the frame A are compartments, corresponding to those on the face, and each is occupied by a pad or valve, d, which is attached to the shutter c, on the opposite face, by means of a link, e. A spring, g, underneath the pad d, tends to presshthe latter outward.

The operation is as follows:

The frame being in its appropriate position, with the rear toward the operator, and the face side outward, the deaf mutes or children, for insta-nce, the teacher presses upon the valves din such consecutive order as corresponds to the letters of the sentence or word to be communicated. As the teachers finger presses upon the valve, the link, lever7 or hook thrusts the shutter open, and on the removal ot' the pressure the springvelevates the pad and draws to the shutter.

Each pad is lettered on the outside, and pressure thereon reveals a corresponding letter on the other side.

Hav-ing described my invention, what I claim therein as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The frame constructed as described, having spring-pads connected by link, or equivalent, to shutters covering letters, and operating substantially as described and represented.

E. B. NOURSE.

Witnesses:

B. F. LARsH, J ARvrs N. LAKE. 

